Organising Committee

Ioana is an actuarial consultant specialising in the fields of Health Analytics and Public Health. Her experience spans both government and corporate spheres, giving a unique perspective on the healthcare sector and stakeholder needs. During her career, she has been a core strategic contributor on high-profile matters of national health concern, including the affordability of private health insurance and more recently the coronavirus pandemic. 

Kirsten is an experienced actuary and strategic adviser with a 25-year career in health, disability and social insurance. She focuses on building better health systems and creating social impact by bringing evidence, insights and new ways of thinking to government, businesses and not-for-profits.

Kirsten brings extensive international experience, advising on and evaluating health and social security reforms in more than 20 countries, and as part of the executive team at one of Australia’s best-known charities, The Fred Hollows Foundation. There, she pioneered ways to improve program impact and attract investors to help end blindness around the world.

In 2019, Kirsten was named one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.

Ruth Chan

Ruth is a pricing, reserving and capital actuary at Defence Health, with a focus on private health insurance products, claims & risk equalisation and advising company’s funding position.  Ruth has worked in the PHI industry since 2013. Prior to Defence Health, Ruth worked in Medibank. Over the years she has been in roles that give her exposure to different perspectives of a health fund’s business, enjoying the challenges of critical changes within a fund and the industry.

Ruth is passionate about collaboration of the health insurance industry and the health system. She has been actively involved in different health insurance forums, participated in meetings with funds and academics from other health systems.

Bronwyn Hardy

Bronwyn has over 20 years’ experience in the private health insurance industry, incorporating time as both a consultant and as the Senior Actuary for a private health insurer. She has been a member of a various of industry panels, and has authored a number of papers on health for the Institute. Bronwyn recently joined the PHI team at Finity.

Andrew Matthews

Andrew is a principal based in Melbourne and is an actuary with expertise in Appointed Actuary roles, applying analytics and Organisational Development. He works with a range of insurers informing wise financial decisions, exploring growth possibilities and protecting businesses by ensuring compliance with prudential requirements. In addition to commercial experience leading actuarial and risk services, he is an Associate Professor at Monash Business School and a Board Director at The Stroke Foundation. He is passionate about health and education. Andrew works with leaders and their teams to apply analytics and build the capabilities to put a shared vision into action.

Amelia is an Actuary currently working in health insurance at Bupa. She is primarily focused on reserving and capital but is also involved in pricing, IFRS 17 and other projects across the actuarial team. She was previously a consultant at Deloitte for five years, where she worked on a variety of projects across health, life and general insurance. Amelia is passionate about optimising healthcare for all Australians. She hopes to contribute to solutions to some of the issues facing the funding of healthcare in our current environment of changing demographics, technology, diseases and climate. Amelia is excited to be part of the Future of Health Seminar planning committee and hopes to help make it a valuable event for all involved.

Karl Niemann

Karl manages the PHI Actuarial team at APRA. His current focus includes addressing sustainability/affordability risks in the industry, reviewing the capital standards and working with the Appointed Actuaries. Prior to APRA, Karl was in Europe for five years working with a variety of general insurers and prior to this he was at the previous health insurance prudential regulator PHIAC.   

Clare Hughes is the Public Policy & Practice Excellence Adviser at the Actuaries Institute. Clare has a background in strategic communications including Investor Relations, Government Relations and Internal Communications and has experience in financial services and real estate investment trusts (REITs). Clare has a Bachelor of Business (Banking & Finance).